Deutsche Bank was founded in 1870 to accompany German companies abroad. Today, it is the leading bank in Germany with a strong position in Europe, represented in 56 countries around the world and globally networked. It provides retail and private banking, corporate and transaction banking, lending, asset and wealth management products and services as well as focused investment banking to private individuals, small and medium-sized companies, corporations, governments and institutional investors.
At-a-Glance
With one of its existing Linux distributions approaching end-of-life, Deutsche Bank needed a solution that could keep its mixed-Linux estate secure, provide choice and facilitate the seamless migration of thousands of servers. Having leveraged SUSE Premium Support and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for over 20 years, Deutsche Bank has found a trusted partner in SUSE to help achieve these goals, expanding the partnership to the entire Linux estate. By implementing SUSE Multi-Linux Support, the bank ensured ongoing security updates, vendor independence, business continuity and reduced Linux maintenance costs.
Deutsche Bank Secures 24/7 Operations with SUSE Multi-Linux Support
“We needed a solution that gave us choice. We don’t want to be locked in. That’s why we chose SUSE Multi-Linux Support. It gave us the flexibility and freedom we needed.”
Securing critical systems amid forced lifecycle changes
To support critical financial applications — such as ensuring ATM access, processing salary payments, supporting mortgage transactions and investments — Deutsche Bank operates a global network of data centers powered by servers running a range of Unix and Linux operating systems. As a key player in a highly regulated industry, the bank prioritizes the security, availability and performance of these systems, ensuring they are continuously operational and accessible 24/7 to meet the evolving financial needs of its customers.
Deutsche Bank’s Unix Services team is responsible for certifying and securing these critical systems. This includes OS hardening, preparing vulnerability remediation packages and ensuring the infrastructure remains secure and capable of supporting the workloads necessary to meet customer demands.
When Deutsche Bank faced the end-of-life for one of its enterprise Linux distributions in 2024, the team needed a solution that would extend the lifecycle of the existing environment — without compromising security or operational stability.
This created the challenge of a forced upgrade, resulting in increased costs and the risk of deeper vendor lock-in. Peter Nutt, Global Head of Unix Engineering, explains: “When vendors force an upgrade, it triggers a lengthy process that involves acquiring new hardware and submitting budget requests. This results in significant costs, including capital expenditures for new hosts, running hosts in parallel, as well as ongoing charges for hosting, power and licenses.”
Why SUSE Multi-Linux Support?
To avoid vendor lock-in, security concerns and escalating costs, Deutsche Bank evaluated its options carefully. Based on a recommendation to adopt a multi-vendor strategy — and backed by a trusted relationship spanning more than 20 years — the bank turned to SUSE for support. Nutt explains: “We needed a solution that gave us choice. We don’t want to be locked in. That’s why we chose SUSE Multi-Linux Support. It gave us the flexibility and freedom we needed.”
Beyond flexibility, Deutsche Bank needed a solution that could meet the financial industry’s strict security and compliance standards. Operating globally, across regions with their own regulatory frameworks, the bank must maintain a universal focus on vulnerability management. Given the critical nature of its services, any failure could have a major impact on customers and financial ecosystems.
“Deutsche Bank is critical to the financial stability of the globe. We operate data centers around the world with thousands of servers running critical applications. Many of these systems operate 24/7, 365 days a year, requiring careful scheduling and constant attention to ensure they remain secure and perform without interruption,” says Nutt.
Boris Serebryanyy, Head of Unix and Linux Services at Deutsche Bank, adds: “It is essential for us to operate our servers, provide support and remediate vulnerabilities in a safe and secure manner with as little downtime as possible and minimum or ideally no manual intervention. These capabilities are invaluable not just in the finance industry, but for any business that must provide 100% availability for critical services.”
SUSE delivered a secure, enterprise-grade environment tailored to meet these demands. A key factor in the bank’s decision was SUSE’s deep-rooted commitment to open source — an ethos built on transparency, collaboration and freedom of choice. In a highly regulated and security-focused industry, this open model provided reassurance that the bank would not be locked into rigid vendor ecosystems, but instead have the flexibility to innovate and evolve on its own terms. Combined with SUSE’s regulatory expertise, this approach gave the bank the confidence to move forward without disrupting its critical systems.
“Given the critical nature of our infrastructure, we have to consistently ensure the security of our mixed Linux estates. We require long-term certainty that our innovations and choices will be supported securely at enterprise grade by Linux experts,” says Nutt. “We have successfully partnered with SUSE for many years for innovative open source solutions. With SUSE Multi-Linux Support, we deepen the strong relationship.”
Choosing SUSE, Deutsche Bank migrated thousands of servers overnight from its previous Linux distribution to SUSE Linux, without disruption. “I had absolute confidence in SUSE. Everything worked perfectly,” says Nutt. Now, the bank benefits from comprehensive enterprise Linux support from a single vendor — covering any distribution. This multi-vendor strategy has significantly reduced complexity and cost, while ensuring that the bank’s Linux estate remains secure, resilient and future-ready for evolving business needs.
Why SUSE Premium Support?
Recognizing the potential of open source technology and the Linux operating system early on, Deutsche Bank chose SUSE Premium Support and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server in 2001 to help manage its SUSE Linux estate.
This partnership has provided Deutsche Bank with access to a dedicated team of named experts who possess in-depth knowledge of both the company and its environment for over 20 years. This expertise enables Deutsche Bank to quickly resolve problems, around the clock. “We are in contact with SUSE support personnel on a daily basis. Their responsiveness and level of expertise — these are the first things that come to mind when I talk about SUSE. They even help us with the maintenance and support of other Linux distributions,” says Serebryanyy.
The impact of SUSE Multi-Linux Support
Provides vendor independence and flexibility
Deutsche Bank operates multiple Linux distributions across its infrastructure. One of the key advantages of SUSE Multi-Linux Support has been its pivotal role in delivering a simplified support and maintenance structure across the multiple Linux distributions used in Deutsche Bank — offering the flexibility, interoperability and expertise to meet evolving business requirements effectively.
“SUSE Multi-Linux Support has given us the primary benefit of operational flexibility and vendor independence,” says Nutt. “We have the choice we need, and we benefit greatly from SUSE’s open source expertise. It’s all about collaboration and shared progress — working together to drive Deutsche Bank forward through a great partnership. This relationship is essential for our long-term strategy.”
Secures enterprise Linux infrastructure
SUSE has helped the bank maintain security and compliance by delivering timely vulnerability fixes required to meet regulatory commitments. “These servers run the bank’s most critical, regulator-driven applications. SUSE has stepped up with SUSE Multi-Linux Support and provides us with the vulnerability fixes we need within the regulated timelines. This allows us to patch our systems quickly and be compliant with regulatory requirements,” says Nutt.
SUSE’s support spans across Deutsche Bank’s diverse Linux landscape, enabling consistent patching and security management regardless of distribution. This has been vital in helping the bank uphold SLAs and stay compliant.
With cloud, data analytics and AI playing an increasingly central role in current and future operations, Deutsche Bank must provide customers with a stable and secure foundation — ensuring reliable access to financial services. Seamless support for these operations is essential.
Removes need for migration
With SUSE Multi-Linux Support, Deutsche Bank can maintain its current multi-Linux environments it already relies on, with no need for disruptive and costly migrations. With predictable releases and continuous security for all the bank’s applications, Deutsche Bank can keep the operating systems that are critical to its operations running while ensuring they remain secure, stable and supported.
“SUSE consistently releases timely security updates, which is crucial for us. As a financial institution, security is a top priority for the bank, and SUSE’s reliability in delivering these updates on time is a major benefit. Additionally, the long-standing relationship, built over nearly a quarter of a century, speaks to the strength of our collaboration,” says Serebryanyy.
Innovate at own pace
SUSE Multi-Linux Support has been crucial in giving Deutsche Bank control over its Linux environment without the risks of vendor lock-in. The flexibility of open source solutions allows the bank to adapt and innovate at its own pace, free from proprietary constraints. SUSE’s deep expertise in open source ensures the bank can deploy new technologies within a secure and scalable infrastructure. This approach not only reduces operational risks but also accelerates the bank’s ability to integrate cutting-edge innovations, ensuring long-term stability and growth.
“Working with a partner like SUSE gives us the trust and capability to innovate and move forward in a safe and secure manner. To work with SUSE is great. It’s partnering. There is a willingness to help, move forward and go the extra mile,” says Nutt.
The impact of SUSE Premium Support
Coupled with SUSE Multi-Linux Support, SUSE Premium Support provides Deutsche Bank with robust support for a variety of Linux distributions, ensuring that Deutsche Bank can manage a diverse set of environments with a single support contract. Direct access to named engineers who have a deep understanding of Deutsche Bank’s architecture and processes enable the bank to resolve issues quickly and efficiently, minimizing downtime and ensuring smooth operations.
“The premium engineers that support our environment know our architecture very well. They know how we work, and some of the people have been working with Deutsche Bank for at least 10 years,” says Nutt. “As an example, we had a long running problem and the solutions that were recommended to us by other vendors were very complex and introduced more risk. The premium engineers inside the SUSE MultiLinux space provided an alternative solution to the problem that was much simpler and is now rolled out into production.”
Serebryanyy adds: “We’re a 24/7, 365-day-ayear organization, so rapid response is absolutely essential. What stands out in our long-standing relationship with SUSE is their consistent ability to respond quickly to our requests and always be there when we need them. The level of expertise their subject matter experts bring to the table is exceptional, and that support has been critical to our operations.”
What’s next for Deutsche Bank?
Going forward, Deutsche Bank is focused on deepening its partnership with SUSE, prioritizing SUSE solutions across its infrastructure. The bank sees significant long-term benefits in SUSE’s roadmap, particularly with advanced multi-Linux support, which aligns with its strategic goals. “This is the start of a much deeper relationship,” says Nutt, emphasizing the trust and value SUSE brings as a key partner.
As the bank embraces AI for operations like fraud detection and customer service, it recognizes the critical need for a trusted, secure environment to support these innovations. “Today’s world is all about AI and automation. Seeing SUSE’s AI offering is interesting for us,” says Serebryanyy. Looking to the future, Deutsche Bank is eager to explore areas where SUSE AI can support the business in driving forward its digital transformation.